Improvement in earth-closets



I` waited 't-atea @latent @Attire Letters Patent No. 101,098, dated March 22, 1870.

IMPRovnMENT '1N EARTH-encens.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the :saine I, WiLLrAM ROBERT Cor/ron CLARK, of the city 'of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, have invented a certain new and'useful Improvement in the Mode of Operating IIarth-Olosets or Commodes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawing making a part of this specification.

My invention consists in a simple and certain means of operating the discharge of earth, charcoal, or other Ydeodorizing substance in proper quantity, into and upon the excrements in the commode or privy; and the machinery employed by me is so constructed and arranged that by the simple pressure upon the seat or stand of the commode or privy, which is necessary to the use thereof', my invention is not only certain in its operation, but also self-acting.

On a shaft. or axis, A, is secured a dumping-box, E, as shown, or in any other equivalent way, which is lactuated through the agency of the said axis in its receiving movement or partial rotation by the ratchet- Ylever B, and its reverse or discharging movement by the helical spring O, which may be placedA as shown, or in any other proper place to accomplish its function, accordingly as the relations of the several parts may be varied to suit the conditions of the particular commode to which my invention is applied.

The' shaft A is supported in proper journals at its two extremities, which are secured in a suitable frame, and it is placed within, next the top, and toward the end of the privy-seat and box, and so as to have its axis parallel to the front of said box. It has at one end', securely fixed on it, a tooth-wheel or section of a wheel, D, vinto which the lever B works by means of an expanded ratchet termination, as shown.

The dumping-box E is placed at the middle of said I shaft, unless there are peculiar' conditions in the construction oi' the privy which compel its location elsewhere. '.Lhis box may obviously be made of any material, (as may also the shaft A,) but always large enough to contain a suflicient quantum of the deodorizing earth or other substance to accomplish the object in view.

This dumping-box E is to receive the deodoiizing agent' from a proper recipient or hopper, not shown on the drawing, in graduated quantity, and to discharge the same upon the excremeut immediately after a disposition of the same by each person who used the privy.

The toothed wheel D and cogged termination of the,lever B are so adjusted that the shaft A turns on its axisl only about one hundred degrees, or a little more than one-fourth of a whole revolution, in one direction by pressure on the lever B, and in the otherV by the tensile force of the spring O.

The box E should conform in size and shape to the mouth of the hopper containing the deodorizing substance or powder, so that when, by pressure on the seat, it, the former, is brought bythe partial rotation of shaft A under the mouth of the hopper, it will receive its full charge of the deodorizing agent, and hence always discharge enough to effect thel desired object.

rIhe moment the pressure is removed, the spring C instantly, and with considerable centrifugal force, turns the shaft back to its original position and discharges the deodorizing substance, and, by bringing the unbroken portion of the perimeter of the cylinder or shaft A in contact with the sides of the mouth of -the hopper, which are made to t snugly against the same, eiectually shuts ofi` all further discharge of said substance until the next operation.

The lever B may be adjusted so as to be actuated by a very few pounds of' pressure, applied either to the oor of the privy just in front of the seat therein, or to the seat itself, or at any other convenient point, and any description or kind of spring may be employed, and at any proper point, to produce`the reverse rotation of the dumping-box and its eectual discharge.

I claim as of my invention- The combination of -the shaft A, the dumping-box E, the toothed wheel D, the lever B, and the spring O, when these several parts are constructed, relatively arranged with respect to each other, and operate substantially in the manner herein described, and for the purpose herein set forth.

V. R. C. CLARK.

Witnesses Nunn. T. EnsoN, H. N. J ENKINs. 

